At IGB Barcelona 2025, the air was thick with opportunity, and one conversation stood out as a snapshot of modern affiliate marketing evolution. Mukul Kaushik of Affnook sat down with Dan Gallagher, Head of Client Success at TBD Media, to explore how the agency bridges affiliate management and digital marketing across the globe.
Who is TBD Media — Beyond the Booth
TBD.Media is not just another digital agency. They blend performance marketing, affiliate operations, and content strategy into one seamless service suite. From paid media to SEO and creative, their approach is designed to scale affiliate programs and brand reach in tandem.
Dan described his role as straddling two worlds: helping brands grow via media solutions and operating affiliate systems behind the scenes. It’s a dual identity where TBD becomes an extension of an operator or publisher’s team.
What Brought TBD to Barcelona
For Dan and his team, IGB isn’t just another show. It’s a chance to:
- Reconnect face-to-face with existing clients they may rarely meet in person
- Meet potential clients or operators who need media or affiliate support
- Showcase their blend of services that align both marketing and tracking under one roof
He put it simply: “We like to think of ourselves as an in-house team that helps with affiliate and media side work.” It’s that positioning which gives TBD flexibility in how they pitch and partner.
Global Presence with Local Impact
Though TBD operates remotely (with leadership in the UK and Australia), their footprint is worldwide. They support clients across Europe, the U.S., Asia, and Australia. This distributed model gives them agility — they can adapt to local requirements while maintaining global standards.
This global-local balance helps when navigating regional affiliate markets, regulatory nuance, and client expectations that vary country to country.
Meeting the Needs of Operators & Affiliates
Dan emphasized how TBD tailors offerings depending on who they are speaking to:
- For operators, they offer media strategies, ad operations, and campaign scaling
- For affiliates, they provide affiliate management, performance oversight, and traffic solutions
- They also offer support services — from analytics to technical infrastructure — that plug gaps clients often have
This hybrid model allows TBD to be versatile: whether a business needs them to run ads, manage affiliates, or handle both in tandem.
Strengths & Challenges
One of TBD’s core strengths is integration. Many businesses struggle with silos — marketing separate from affiliate, tracking separate from media. TBD aims to unify those, offering a cohesive stack.
But this approach has challenges:
- Scaling operations: managing both media and affiliate demands high coordination
- Maintaining specialization: balancing deep expertise in each domain without diluting quality
- Keeping up with compliance and regional intricacies in affiliate and iGaming verticals
Dan acknowledged that the portfolio is wide and complex, but said the team is committed to maintaining clarity and quality across their services.
Key Takeaways from IGB
- Relationships still matter: For many clients, meeting in person builds trust that digital interactions alone can’t replicate.
- Hybrid models win: Combining media + affiliate offerings gives flexibility to adapt to various client needs.
- Global by design, local by action: Remote teams with global reach must remain sensitive to local market dynamics.
- Value lies in integration: The tighter the alignment between marketing, tracking, and performance, the more effective campaigns become.
Looking Forward
After the event, TBD Media is well positioned to expand further. With backing from Acumen (following the 2024 acquisition), they now have potential fuel for tech development, entering new markets, and scaling their service offerings more aggressively.
For affiliates, operators, or brands looking to boost both ad performance and affiliate efficiency, TBD’s integrated model is an appealing option — provided they value collaboration, transparency, and results.
IGB Barcelona 2025 may have been the stage, but the real story is how agencies like TBD are reshaping how affiliate & performance marketing services are delivered in the iGaming space.
